Bringing Christ's Peace to the World
WORLD COMMUNITY DAY 2025
Adapted by Australian Church Women from the 2025 ACWC Day & FLC In-Gathering Liturgies
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WELCOME
Some material in this order of service has been taken with permission from:
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the 2025 Liturgy of the Asian Church Women’s Conference (ACWC) Day “Riding the Storms of Life: Coping, Healing and Living Well”, and
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the 2025 In-Gathering Liturgy from the International Committee of the Fellowship of the Least Coin (ICFLC).
60
As Australian Church Women marks the 60th anniversary of our own organisation,
we acknowledge with love and gratitude our traditional and ongoing relationships with our Christian sisters throughout the world and renew our commitment to walking together.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND
We acknowledge the First Nations peoples of Australia as the traditional custodians of this land. We respect past and present Elders and are thankful for their wisdom which has sustained their people since the beginning of time.
We will support emerging and future First Nations leaders and their people.
CALL TO WORSHIP
[Where 2 or more are gathered, you may like to read this as a responsive reading.]
Leader: Come to the living God,
Come to stand alongside the poor.
Come to struggle with those who seek freedom.
Come to resist all that offends God’s justice.
Come to the living, disturbing God.
(Jan Berry Bread of Tomorrow, ed. J Morley Christian Aid/SPCK 1992
Used with permission of the FLC)
Leader lights a candle or lamp to signify the listening presence of Christ.
Leader: As this worship light shines, let there be love in our hearts and light in our community –
LIGHT that dispels the darkness of ignorance, hate, injustice and despair.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
OPENING HYMN
Christ is the World‘s True Light
(Together in Song 238)
[Click image arrow to sing along with the video.
https://youtu.be/1ZeWThib4b8?si=9CUb4ltcBD3u-Ftm
Chet Valley Churches YouTube channel]
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Leader: O God, we confess that when you asked for our hands that you might use them for your purpose,
we gave them for a moment,
Then we withdrew them, for the work was hard.
RESPONSE: God forgive us.
Leader: You asked for our mouths, to speak out against injustice.
But we gave you a whisper so that we might not be accused.
RESPONSE: God forgive us.
Leader: You asked for our eyes, to see the pain of women.
But we closed them, for we did not want to see.
RESPONSE: God forgive us.
Leader: You asked for our life, that you might work through us.
But we gave a small part that we might not get too involved.
RESPONSE: God forgive us.
ALL: God forgive us our calculated efforts to serve you only when it is:
convenient for us to do so,
only in places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.
Come to us in your mercy, to repair our broken lives and to hasten the hour of full communion among us, in the name of the love of Jesus Christ.
Amen
(Taken from the 2025 ACWC Day Liturgy and used with permission.)
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
John 16:33 (ESV)
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart;
I have overcome the world.
Psalm 97:1–2, 4–6 (NIV)
(This may be read responsively.)
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
Leader: This is the word of the Lord.
Response: Thanks be to God.
HYMN
Christ is our Corner Stone
(Together in Song 433)
[Click image arrow to sing along with the video
LAMENTATION PRAYER OF INTERCESSION
Leader:
We could not turn our lamentation into dancing;
We could not turn our tears into laughter;
We could not welcome the morning, as the night passes by;
We could not let loose our voices into shouts of joy.
RESPONSE:
God, hear our cries, in times of pain; listen to our sighs.
God, who was with the people when they hunger for food and justice.
You have been the Presence who led them,
The Cloud who guarded them,
And the Fire who lit their way.
Will you do the same with the many poor who long for your assurance?
Leader:
We come to you as a community.
We are bonded by our HOPE and strengthened by our LOVE
We partake in the struggle for a future that is peaceful and abundant,
Safe from poverty and oppression,
Safe from abuse and exploitation.
RESPONSE:
We remember the many hungry and thirsty.
The homeless, and the sick without resources for their healing.
We come to you,
God who always sided with the slaves and struggling people.
May their cries be heeded and Justice be served.
May your favour be upon her who is poor.
This is our hope. This is our prayer.
Amen
(Norma Dollaga, Philippines, used with permission of the FLC.)
HYMN
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
(Together in Song 207)
[Click image arrow to sing along with the video
https://youtu.be/QE297jLUteY?si=Iu7-Mf6hb_WyGBeQ
During this hymn the GENERAL OFFERING will be taken up in support of the work of the Asian Church Women’s Conference.
GENERAL OFFERING
If you are unable to present your offering at this time, please set it aside until you can meet with members of ACW or please email the ACW National Secretary Margaret Ker to arrange for the collection of your offering.
PRAYER FOR OUR ACWC PRAYER PARTNER SRI LANKA
O Lord, we ask for your blessing on our Prayer Partner Sri Lanka. May the work among our members and their families be fruitful and supportive of their Christian lives. May your providence supply all their needs. May the Lord Jesus raise their spirits and increase their love for him and make them strong in diversity and gentle in their relationships with friends and family. May the Lord, the great Shepherd of his flock enfold them in his arms, and in his name we pray.
Amen
(Taken from the 2025 ACWC Day Liturgy and used with permission.)
FELLOWSHIP OF THE LEAST COIN OFFERING AND BLESSING
If you have not seen this, an excellent video introduction to the Fellowship of the Least Coin was produced by the Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada in October 2018, and it is available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYomxrkqeg
Fellowship of the Least Coin Offering and Blessing
Leader:
Our ‘least coin’ offerings are concrete tokens of our commitment to pray and work for justice, peace and reconciliation with God through the Fellowship of the Least Coin. You are now invited to bring forward your offering.
(If you are unable to present your FLC offerings at this time, please set them aside until you can meet with other FLC supporters or please email the ACW National Secretary Margaret Ker margaretker48@gmail.com)
FELLOWSHIP OF THE LEAST COIN PRAYER (ALL)
O Loving Creator, we present ourselves in your divine presence to thank you for all the bountiful gifts of life. We are especially grateful for the Fellowship of the Least Coin, which binds us together in love and forgiveness around the globe. Free us from all doubts and prejudices, we pray. Inspire us to live in solidarity with humankind that we may know the joy of giving and receiving.
Dear God, accept these least coin ‘tokens of love’. Make us mindful of the miracles of these coins. Let us honour your creation with love, as shown through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son, Jesus the Christ.
AMEN
THE LORD’S PRAYER (ALL)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
on earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours
now and forever.
AMEN
BENEDICTION
Leader: Go boldly into the future that God has claimed for you,
know that the God who holds all things will be there,
that Christ who calls us friend will walk beside us,
and that the Spirit who makes all things new
will mark our way with light and hope.
And the Blessing of God,
Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,
be upon us all and remain with us always.
All: AMEN
(Taken from the 2025 ACWC Day Liturgy and used with permission.)
CLOSING HYMN
Christ is Made the Sure Foundation
(Together in Song 432)
[Click image arrow to sing along with the video.